Whitney Cummings blasts backlash over Riyadh Comedy Festival: ‘It’s just racism’

Comedian Whitney Cummings is defending her and fellow comedians' performances at the controversial Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia.

Along with Cummings, the event — held from September 26 to October 9 — starred several prominent comedians, including Dave Chappelle, Pete Davidson, Kevin Hart, Louis CK, Jimmy Carr, and Jack Whitehall. However, these performers were dubbed “sellouts” for taking part in the Saudi state-sponsored event in the wake of journalist Turki al-Jasser's death, and as Saudi authorities have been imposing long prison sentences for social media posts.

Now, Cummings is defending her performance at the event and specifically addressing the backlash.

“I guess I’m this weirdo. I don’t operate under, you know, the idea that every government and their people are the same… You think that the people of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi government all [share the same values]?” the actor, 43, said during Sunday’s episode of her podcast, Good For You. “So you also believe that the Chinese government and the Chinese people are exactly the same?”

“It’s just racism,” she continued. “I think it took me a second, because when people are going like, ‘You’re doing something unethical,’ I’m like, ‘Oh, these must be ethical people, let me listen.’ And then you’re like, ‘Oh no, you’re just racist.’ These are also the same people who would go, ‘Trump is not my president! I am nothing like our president.’ But other countries are?”

She addressed how other comics called the comedians at the festival a “sellout,” and explained why she thought that backlash was hypocritical.

“When you get a sec, Google ‘Saudi Arabia Live Nation’ so you can be informed on the fact that anyone who has worked with Live Nation, every stand-up comic, has taken Saudi money,” she said. “Or bought a ticket through Live Nation, went to a Live Nation event, all the actors who are represented by William Morris Agency, which is all of them. If you want to send them notes too.”

Her remarks come after Human Rights Watch described the Riyadh Comedy Festival as Saudi Arabia’s latest attempt to “deflect attention from its brutal repression of free speech and other pervasive human rights violations.”

The organization even urged anyone taking part to use their platform to speak up on issues such as human rights and freedom of speech, particularly as Saudi Arabia experiences a reported rise in executions for non-lethal and drug-related crimes.

Comedian David Cross, who said he was not asked to perform at the festival, shared a statement on Instagram to criticize the event: “I am disgusted, and deeply disappointed in this whole gross thing. That people I admire, with unarguable talent, would condone this totalitarian fiefdom for…what, a fourth house? A boat? More sneakers?”

“We can never again take seriously anything these comedians complain about (unless it’s complaining that we don’t support enough torture and mass executions of journalists and LGBQT peace activists here in the states, or that we don’t terrorize enough Americans by flying planes into our buildings),” he continued.

Speaking to BBC News, comedy fans who attended the shows said they were surprised to hear several comics include “profane content” in their sets, such as jokes about gay and trans people.

One attendee said that Chappelle made lots of jokes about transgender people, which he has been criticized for in the past, while Omid Djalili made gags about elements of Saudi culture, such as women driving.

During his performance, Chappelle also chose to comment about freedom of speech in the U.S.

“Right now in America, they say that if you talk about Charlie Kirk, that you’ll get canceled. I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m gonna find out,” he said, referring to right-wing political activist, 31, who was shot dead during a rally at Utah Valley University last month.

He added: “It’s easier to talk here than it is in America.”

Chappelle later said that he is concerned about returning to the United States because “they’re going to do something to me so that I can’t say what I want to say.”

The comedy festival came months after the Saudi regime executed journalist al-Jasser for “high treason.” He was imprisoned in 2018 and sentenced to death on charges of terrorism and high treason. The accusations stemmed from writings he authored on a blog and in a newspaper.